Historical linguistics studies language change either diachronically (through a comparison of different time periods in the past and present) or in a synchronic manner (by observing developments between different variations that exist within the current linguistic stage of a language). Subfields of the discipline include language change and grammaticalisation. Despite a shift in focus in the twentieth century towards formalism and generative grammar, which studies the universal properties of language, historical research today still remains a significant field of linguistic inquiry. Historical linguistics emerged as one of the first few sub-disciplines in the field, and was most widely practiced during the late 19th century. Western trends in historical linguistics date back to roughly the late 18th century, when the discipline grew out of philology, the study of ancient texts and oral traditions. Historical linguistics is the study of how language changes in history, particularly with regard to a specific language or a group of languages. Linguistics is related to philosophy of language, stylistics and rhetorics, semiotics, lexicography, and translation philology, from which linguistics emerged, is variably described as a related field, a subdiscipline, or to have been superseded altogether. Linguistic phenomena may be studied through a variety of perspectives: synchronically (describing a language at a specific point of time) or diachronically (through historical development) in monolinguals or multilinguals children or adults as they are learned or already acquired as abstract objects or cognitive structures through texts or oral elicitation and through mechanical data collection versus fieldwork. Applied linguistics seeks to utilise the scientific findings of the study of language for practical purposes, such as developing methods of improving language education and literacy. Theoretical linguistics (including traditional descriptive linguistics) is concerned with understanding the fundamental nature of language and developing a general theoretical framework for describing it. Linguistics encompasses many branches and subfields that span both theoretical and practical applications. Subdisciplines such as biolinguistics (the study of the biological variables and evolution of language) and psycholinguistics (the study of psychological factors in human language) bridge many of these divisions. Traditional areas of linguistic analysis correspond to phenomena found in human linguistic systems, such as syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences) semantics (meaning) morphology (structure of words) phonetics (speech sounds and equivalent gestures in sign languages) phonology (the abstract sound system of a particular language) and pragmatics (how social context contributes to meaning). It is considered a scientific field as well as an academic discipline it has been classified as a social science, natural science, cognitive science, or part of the humanities. Linguistics is concerned with both the cognitive and social aspects of language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguistics is the scientific study of human language.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |